


Feels like Home

by RandomFangirl_SQ



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alters Cannon, F/F, Ignores Season 7, Mama Bear Emma, takes place in season 6, what if
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2020-09-07 00:23:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20300401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomFangirl_SQ/pseuds/RandomFangirl_SQ
Summary: Regina uses the lamp to save Emma from the Wishverse. But what if the Wishverse wasn't as fake as she thought it would be? Now Emma and Regina have to figure out their family dynamic with two Henrys on their hands. Will Henry learn to share his mothers? Or will Emma and Wish Verse Henry be forced to find a new home?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay this assumes that Regina made up with her other half before going to save Emma from the Wish Realm. My depiction of the trip to the WR deters from what is canon.

“A toast to us. We have finally won.” As the Evil Queen triumphantly held her glass in the air, she unwittingly made her chest all to vulnerable to Regina.

Seeing as there would be no other chance like this one, Regina dropped her cocktail and lunged for the Queen’s chest. She ripped out her heart faster than she had the opportunity to react. She was going to end this once and for all. Not by ending the Queen, but by accepting her. 

She honestly did not know what she was thinking when she decided to separate herself from her other half. A naive part of her thought that she would go back to being young Regina, the one who Daniel had fallen in love with. Yet she couldn’t go back to her because that girl no longer existed. She became tougher because life forced her to. Obviously, she went a bit overboard in protecting herself, as she didn’t  _ need _ to become the Evil Queen. She couldn’t place the blame all on the Queen. She was thankful to the Queen for getting her to where she needed to be. Now it was time that she stopped thinking about herself in different fragments. She was just Regina Mills, the good, the bad, and the ugly. She accepted and loved herself, and now it was time she showed her other half how to do the same. 

“I hate you” The Queen stared at her better half with nothing but pure hatred. She had finally gone out and achieved everything that they had always wanted. Instead of a thanks, this is what she gets. She was cursing herself for thinking that this would get Regina to join her. 

On the exterior she was nothing more than the Evil Queen, she cared for no one but herself. But on the inside, she was lonely and desperate for meaningful connections with others. She thought that if she was able to get rid of Emma Swan, that would Regina would stop this charade and finally see that she needed her. She wanted Regina to love her for if she couldn’t even love herself, then what hope would they have that someone else would?

Life would be so cruel to let her think that she had finally won, and then do this to her. She snarled at her better half, “If you are going to do it, hurry up and get it over with.”   
  
“I don’t hate you and I am not going to kill you. You are not all evil. I am not all good. I am just going to restore the balance between us.” Regina held the two hearts together and they began to merge. What was once bright red and coal-black, now became two mirror images of both light and dark. 

Regina stepped forward and simultaneously returned both hearts at once. When she stepped back, she could see that the woman in front of her had been changed for the better. But she couldn’t revel in this new development, because Emma still needed saving.

Henry suddenly appeared in a cloud of purple smoke. He took a second to gain his bearings. No matter how many times his mother teleported him, he never really got the hang of it. He looked at the scene in front of him. His mother and the Evil Queen. But maybe not the Evil Queen at all, for her face was softer somehow. She looked just like his mother.

“Moms. What’s going on?” He looked at Regina, but he made sure to look at the Queen so she understood that he was calling her his mom as well. 

Regina stepped forward and pulled her son into a long hard hug. She took a minute to inhale deeply into his hair, just to really take him in for a moment. It wasn’t the first time she had to leave him, but it was never easy.

She held his face in between her two hands. “Henry honey, I gave the Queen some of my light and I took some of her darkness. I believe that she wants to change now. I need you to help her get the fresh start that she deserves. For now, I have to go find Emma. Can you do this for me, Henry?”

Henry was thrilled to be included for once. So many times the adults in his life tried to shelter him away from everything that was happening. He wasn’t going to miss this opportunity now that it was being handed to him. He eagerly nodded his head. “Of course I can help mom, she’s you. She’s my mom too.” He turned to look at the Queen and told her “I am going to always want to help you. I love you.” Her heart soared when she heard her son’s heartwarming words. He truly was her little prince.

Watching as the pair were engulfed in an emotional hug, Regina decided that it was best for everyone if she left for Emma now. She was actually surprised at how comfortable she felt with leaving Henry with the Queen. She knew that she was incapable of hurting Henry, so she knew that he would be safe with her. Plus she had released the woman of some of her darkness in exchange for some light, so she had no doubt that the other woman would do the right thing.

She took the lamp within her hands, she still had two wishes left and she intended to use them both.

She gave a farewell nod to the mother and son duo and turned to face Aladdin. “Genie, I wish to be sent to the same place as Emma Swan”.

=====================================================================

“No! Please don’t hurt them. I’ve already surrendered. You have the kingdom. What more could you want?” The blonde lay on her knees in tears begging the woman in front of her for mercy. 

Emma was at a loss as to what she could do to save her parents. This was the first confrontation- the first danger that she had ever been exposed to. She looked at her parents and silently cursed them for keeping her so sheltered her entire life. Here their lives were on the line and the only thing she could think of doing was groveling for mercy. 

She talked about these dreams of another life, but she knew that they were nothing but dreams. She wished that she could be Emma Swan, instead of Princess Emma White. For she knew that Emma Swan would be fighting back right now. That Emma had a sort of confidence around her. At times it was clear that she didn’t always know what she was doing, but still, she at least was taking action. It was more than she could say about herself. 

“Emma, please. I want you to step up and be the savior I know. You can do this. Fight me.” Regina was absolutely torn. The thought of never getting Emma back. Never getting  _ her _ Emma back. The thought was unbearable. She didn’t want this weak princess. She wanted the annoying pain in the ass woman who cut a limb off of her beloved apple tree with a chainsaw. She wanted the woman who made her blood boil and irritated her beyond belief because that woman? That woman made her feel like home.

Not that she would admit that to the other woman. At least not anytime soon. 

Emma was her partner in crime. It was always Emma and Regina saving the day. They sacrificed so much for the other without batting an eye. Regina clearly should have thought more of what that could have meant before this moment. Because now, here she stand in front of a woman that was so similar yet a complete stranger at the same time. The thought of doing any of this without her hurt. It sent a physical pang of pain throughout her body. She clenched her fists in reaction.

_ She clenched her fists.  _ Suddenly she was all too aware of the ashes that lay within her palms. She didn’t even realize what she was doing. But this wasn’t the real Snow and Charming, they weren’t real. 

Yet seeing that agony that this caused Emma, well that was all too real. The woman fell to her knees unable to handle the pain of losing her parents. It was clear she was sheltered all her life. This must be the hardest day of her life thus far. And to know that she had caused Emma that pain? Well, it hurt her so deeply that it became clear to Regina that her feelings for Emma stemmed far beyond that of just friendship. 

Suddenly Henry appeared and she was at a loss of what to do. He wasn’t real. She had no problem killing Snow and Charming, surely she could at least defend herself against this fake Henry. He wasn’t real. But he was.

“I won’t fight you, Henry. I can’t hurt you. I love you, all versions of you.”   
  


Henry tilted his head confused as to what the Evil Queen was saying. He quickly shook his head as to physically shake out any seeds of doubt that the witch tried implanting in his head. His grandparents always told him how deceitful the woman was. Without wasting another second he flung his sword straight at her.

Regina closed her eyes and awaited her end. Except it never came.

“Regina!” Emma awoke to quite the peculiar scene. Her parents lay dead on the floor, Henry was frozen as he was about to murder his other mother, and Regina just stood there awaiting her death. 

Regina opened her eyes and hesitantly took a step towards Emma. She didn’t want to get her hopes up, but she needed to know. “Emma, is that really you?”

“Yeah, it’s me. I remember everything.” Emma walked up to Regina feeling particularly gracious for her friend. She went to another realm to save her. They two normally weren’t normally the ones to exchange in physical touches, but she deemed the situation worthy for a hug.

Regina really didn’t know how to react to Emma’s embrace other than to cherish the moment. Her other half was dealt with, and now she had gotten her Emma back. She took a moment to realize just how right this felt. She felt nothing but comfort and protection in Emma’s embrace. She wanted--no she needed-- to keep that feeling. 

It took all but a simple hug to get Regina to make up her mind. She would tell Emma Swan about her feelings. She didn’t know when or how, but she knew that in the near future she was going to lay her heart out on the line. 

She took a minute to clear her head and remembered that their adventure still had not ended. They weren’t out of the woods just yet. Stepping away from Emma she took the lamp out of her pocket and willed Aladdin to appear. 

“How can I be of service your majesty?” Aladdin really wasn’t a fan of this whole being the genie thing, but at least he didn’t despise the woman. The Evil Queen used him as a pawn in her schemes, but Regina would only be using her wishes for good.

She was ready to use her last wish. As she prepared to open her mouth and wish that they were back in Storybrooke she felt Emma’s hand clutch at her arm. She only raised her eyebrow in confusion.

“Give me a moment with Henry. We can’t just leave him here like this.”

Emma made her way over to her son and waved her arm to free him of the spell. She knelt down to the ground with him and placed both of her hands on his shoulders. What she was about to tell him would not be easy, but she knew that he would believe her as the boy held the heart of the truest believer. 

“Mom? What are you doing? The Evil Queen must be punished, I have to avenge my grandparents!”

“Henry!” She cut him off before he could work himself up even further. “Henry what I am about to tell you will sound unbelievable. But I need you to trust me. No matter what. Do you trust me, Henry?”

“I-, yes, of course, I trust you. I am just so confused. Tell me what is going on.”

“Henry the woman in front of you isn’t really the Evil Queen. This is my friend Regina. We are from another realm. The real Evil Queen made a wish that I never became the Saviour. That wish sent me here and created this world. She came here to wake me up.”

“Mom, please! Are you trying to tell me that my whole life has been a lie? Our life? Mom, I have memories of us together from years ago. If this world was just created then how is that possible?”

Emma’s heart broke at the thought that her other life had been nothing but a lie. But she knew it was all real. She thought back to the year in New York and the memories that Regina had given them, but that was different. Those were someone else’s memories that were planted into her head. She was thankful for them, but they weren’t real, at least not for her. Yet she couldn’t say the same thing about her time here in the ‘wish realm’. She felt as if she really did grow up here as a princess, never have been separated from her mother and her father.

The only possible answer she could think of it that magic was unpredictable. Maybe time worked differently here, in what was a day in the other realm could have been years and years in this realm. Maybe she took over ‘wish realm’ Emma’s life when she appeared here. Who is to say that the realm didn’t exist before the Evil Queen’s wish. Maybe the wish only brought her to this world, instead of creating it. 

Regardless she was sure of one thing. The memories she had of this place, the life she had lived here was real. Especially the love for her son. He was not just the result of a spell and her love for him would never go away. 

“Henry you should know by now that magic works in mysterious ways. I remember giving birth to you and raising you for fifteen years. That was real. I don’t have the explanation for it right now, but I know it was real. It is real. You are still my son, nothing has changed. Henry, I need to go back to the realm I am from, and I need you to come with me.”    
  


“If this is all fake, how did she ‘wake you up’?”

“When you tried killing Regina, I woke up. I realized that you were about to kill, that you were about to darken your heart, well I had to react.”

Emma went over to Henry and looked him straight in his eyes. She begged him to see her sincerity. “Henry I need you to trust me and come with us. You are my son and I am not leaving you behind.”

“Mom, I love you. Of course, I will go with you. This all sounds completely unbelievable, but with magic anything is possible. I am going because you are asking me to. If it were anyone else I would call them crazy, but for you, I will have a little faith.”

She hugged her little prince as hard as she could. She whispered a muffled ‘thank you’ into his hair. She knew her son was truly special. It made her feel guilty about how it took her so long to believe him when he was trying to convince her of the course all those years ago. She never would have been able to do what he is doing right now. Her little boy was so much stronger than she was. She wiped a tear from her eye as she thought about how proud she was of him. 

Regina stood there in shock witnessing the entire situation. She didn’t think that it was the wisest choice to bring this Henry home. Who could possibly know about the ramifications of bringing this Henry into their world? Plus she had to think of her Henry’s feelings about this. But seeing the love between Emma and this Henry, she knew that she would never be able to separate the two. 

She knew that if she brought up the idea of leaving Henry here, that there would be a good chance that Emma would stay here as well. Regina knew that she turned into a fierce ‘Momma Bear’ when it came towards Henry. Seeing Emma like this, she knew that she would be the same. So she decided to do what was best for the situation and keep her mouth shut. Surely they had faced crazier problems before.

Regina gave the duo a minute to finish up their moment as she turned towards Aladdin. “Now that that is settled...Genie for my final wish, I wish we were all back in Storybrooke”

In a flash of white smoke Aladdin, Regina, Emma and Henry were gone. 

=====================================================================

It should be unsurprising that they all ended up at Granny’s. All of Storybrooke seems to revolve around the diner, where the truly important events take place, or where the citizens learn about the newest developments about whatever evil is tormenting them. So, of course, they appeared in the middle of Granny’s during the rush lunch hour. All of Storybrooke was in attendance, well at least the important people. 

Snow, Charming, Henry, and Neal were a few of those in attendance. When the smoke disappeared Henry ran up to greet his mothers. He had his arms wrapped around both of them when he saw him. His eyes were practically bulging out of his head when he saw himself wearing knight’s armor. 

Emma felt Henry stiffen during the hug. She realized that with him facing them like that he was able to see over their shoulders. He had a perfect view of the other Henry. 

“Moms? Who is that?” Henry looked over at this other version of himself unsure what to think. The first thought that popped into his mind is that he did not want to share. This was his world and his moms. Surely the other Henry had his own life. 

  
“Henry why don’t you sit down for a moment. Actually, why don’t we all go back to the loft and discuss this? It’s a long story, one that I don’t want to share with all of Granny’s.” While she posed it as a question, it really wasn’t a request. With a wave of Emma’s hand, the family found themselves engulfed in a cloud fo white smoke. Now instead of Granny’s, the Charming/Mills family found themselves in the loft living room. 

‘Wish Realm’ Henry finally got over the shock of seeing himself in such odd clothing. He wasn’t dressed as a royal nor a peasant. He had a hard time understanding what kind of life this Henry lived. He was calling his mother ‘mom’, but he also called the Evil Queen his mother as well. Without taking into account of all these strange surroundings he found this whole thing to be quite peculiar. Then he realized them.

He ran up to Snow and Charming and gave them quite the squeeze. Seeing them alive and well after just seeing them lying dead only minutes ago put his head through quite the loop. “Grandma, Grandpa, you are alive. But the Evil Queen killed you? And how are you so young?”

Both Snow and David couldn’t get over the dashing young man in front of them. They wanted to know everything about him, both he and Emma were dressed as though they lived in the Enchanted Forrest. Maybe this Henry was never separated from Emma, and Emma had grown up to be the princess she was supposed to be. The idea left a pang in Snow’s heart. She might have forgiven Regina and loved who Emma turned out to be now. But she would be lying if she said she didn’t wish that she had the opportunity to raise her daughter as the princess she was meant to be. Not one to admit this, but even now she knows that she would choose to raise her daughter in the Enchanted Forrest. If she could get a do-over, she would gladly take it. She was at least happy that one version of her got to raise her daughter, but both she and David were pretty stuck on the idea of them being dead. And murdered by Regina no less. 

Emma walked over to her son to try to give him a short explanation so she could fill in the rest of the group with the developments. “Henry, these aren’t you’re grandparents. Well, they are, but they aren’t.” She closed her eyes and squeezed the temple of her nose. This was all too complicated. She didn’t even know where to start. “Kid, these are my parents from this realm. My parents from the other realm, well they really are dead. Regina didn’t realize that they were real people when she was trying to wake me up. To her, everything in the realm was fake because of the wish. But to us, we know it was real right?”

Henry only nodded his and gave a brief “right” as confirmation. 

“Kid I love you, nothing will ever change that. Now I need you to try to listen to what I am about to say as best you can.” She took a moment to look away from Henry and address the rest of the room. “I actually need you all to listen as best as you can and please don’t interrupt me. My head is already hurting trying to figure this all out. So please just let me get this all out.” She gave her son one last squeeze of reassurance and went to stand in the room so that they could all see her. This wouldn’t be easy for any of them to hear. 

Meanwhile, Henry or rather Storybrooke Henry couldn’t get over the scene he just witnessed. He knew that he and Emma were close, but never as close as she just was with the other him. He was upset at the scene and he wasn’t sure why. The bond Emma had with the other Henry was exactly the bond he had with his mom, so really there wasn’t a reason to be jealous. But is that what he was feeling in his gut? Was it really jealousy? He’d like to think not. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Charming/Swan/Mills family sit down and have a conversation about everything. Emotions run high and true feelings are set free.

“Okay everyone, let’s make this easy and start from the beginning. I’m going to start with the split to help fill in Henry...a bit.” Emma didn’t know how she should differentiate between the two Henrys. She didn’t want to make either one of them feel like they were lesser somehow, so referring to them as ‘the other Henry’ or ‘the real Henry’ was definitely out of the picture. She just hoped facing the son she was hoping to address would help clarify things. I still can’t believe that this is my life. After living here for so long you would think that scenes like this wouldn’t faze me. It was crazy and hectic, but she shouldn’t complain. Her whole life she had searched for a family that she could call her own. This was a crazy bunch, but they were hers. 

“So Henry, this is Regina from my realm. She drank a serum that separated herself from the Evil Queen. The Evil Queen used a magic lamp to make a wish that I was no longer the Saviour. This sent me to your realm. Then Regina came to our realm dressed up as the Evil Queen to try to wake me up. She killed your grandparents thinking that they were fake in an attempt to wake me up. It didn’t work and you tried to kill her...yeah and then I woke up.” 

She should have probably known better than to bring up the murders and attempted murder. She could see from his pink cheeks that Henry was embarrassed about that. Meanwhile, the other Henry ran in front of his mother trying to protect her as if the knight was still trying to actively kill her. 

She could already tell that there was going to be some problems between the two Henrys, and making one think that the other was trying to murder his mother, well it certainly didn’t help any. 

While on the other hand both Snow and David looked upset that witnessing her parents being murdered wasn’t enough for Emma to wake her up. There were also quite proud of Henry for trying to avenge their deaths, even if they really didn’t want Regina dead. The sentiment still counted. 

Emma skimmed over quickly about how she woke up for multiple reasons. The reason she told herself is that she didn’t want to hurt her parent’s feelings. Knowing that their death wasn’t enough to wake her up would be difficult to hear. The other reason, the one that she didn’t want to think about it, was Regina. She could deny it to herself, but in her heart, she knows that it is important that she woke up to protect Regina. She couldn’t wake up to protect her parents, but for Regina? That was a whole different story. 

“Mom you keep on referring to yourself from two different realms. Which was is real for you?”

“Henry I can’t really answer that yet. I don’t know. I need time to process this all. I know the other realm was real because I remember raising you, we had our whole lives over there. But I also remember being Storybrooke Emma, the one who raised herself with any parents. It’s like I’ve lived two different lives at this point. I feel like my Storbrooke life paused when I became Princess Emma. Or maybe I took over Princess Emma's life? I was Princess Emma for around thirty years, and now I feel like I’m both. Does that make any sense? In my mind no one realm feels more like home to me, they are both just as real as the other. Is that okay?” 

“Of course it’s okay. You’re my mom. You are just combined with a more badass version of yourself. How could that not be okay? I’ll always love you, mom.”

“My little prince, how did I get so lucky to have you?” Henry quite literally had his entire life just torn apart yet he was being the sweet and compassionate young man that he always was. Emma could sense that he was being a little more accepting of the situation for her sake. She guessed that once the dust settled he would be more honest and open about how he was feeling. But for now, she couldn’t be more grateful for the young man that she raised. 

Emma was so upset over the entire ordeal but just hearing Henry’s reassurance made her relax. The feeling would soon be replaced as soon as her other son opened his mouth revealing how he truly felt. 

Henry left Regina’s side to make his way over to Emma and his other-self. He tried being understanding about all of this, but he just couldn’t take it anymore. “So you kept him but not me? I am the one obsessed with the Enchanted Forest. I’ve always wanted to be a knight. That should have been me! What was so wrong with me that you wouldn’t keep me?” Henry couldn’t control himself anymore. Getting to hear about the life his other self lived, well he was jealous. He loved having Regina as his mother; he couldn’t think of anything better. Yet at the same time, he couldn’t help but be jealous that the other Henry was worth keeping in his other mother’s eyes. 

Tears started streaming down her face as she ended the hug with her one son and made her way to her other son. She knew how he was feeling. It was the same thing she went through her entire life. Always asking herself why her parents didn’t keep her. It was especially hard for in Neverland when Snow decided she would stay on the island with David. She had finally been reunited with her birth parents and then they were all too eager to have a life without her. She knew that if she had to make that choice she would choose Henry over any significant other. But her parents hadn’t. Snow didn’t even need to think about her decision. It made her regress to the little lost girl that she had always been. She couldn’t help but think of why she wasn’t enough for her parents.

Those feelings intensified yet again when Snow gave birth to Neal. She was happy on the outside, but on the inside, she kept asking herself ‘why him’. Why did he get to have his parents? Why did they keep him instead of her? Logically she knew that they had sent her away because of the curse, and they had no reason to send Neal away. But she couldn’t get over those feelings that it wasn’t fair that he would get everything that she should have gotten. She broke the curse and fulfilled her destiny, but she would never get the childhood that she deserved back. All she could think was that she wasn’t good enough for that idyllic life she often dreamt of.  
“Henry- That's not- This isn’t what this is…” Emma pleaded for him to listen but she couldn’t form any coherent thoughts. Her heart was breaking. 

Henry cut her off before she could continue. Right now he was too angry to listen to anything that Emma had to say. He stood in front of his other self hoping that his words would really hurt. “I’m your son. Me. He isn’t even real!” With that, he stormed out of the Charming’s apartment. 

She had two sons that needed her right now and she didn’t know what to do. She gave Regina a pleading look as she said “Will you please go after him? I will talk to him once he has cooled down. I need to talk to Henry too.”

Regina had just enough of this at the moment. No one upset her son and got away with it, not even Emma. She took a step forward getting into Emma’s personal space. “Ms. Swan you cannot be serious right now. You’re not even going to go after him? After all this time you fought me to claim right as his mother, and you aren’t even going after him?”

Regina took a moment to close her eyes and let out a deep breath. In reality, she wanted to hurl a fireball at something, but that was more of the Queen’s go-to and those days were behind her. She looked at Emma again and continued to yell at her. “You should be looking after your son right now instead of choosing this fake version of Henry over the real one. You think that-”

Emma wouldn’t hear another word. Regina’s vein stuck out of her forehead when she was upset, but the look on Emma’s face right now far surpassed that. Steam was practically coming out of ears. “Do not talk about my son like that! Don’t tell me how much I love my children. Don’t ever talk about either of my sons like that. Get out. Get out right now!” 

“Well, Ms. Swan it looks like you have made your choice.” With a wave of her hand and a plume of purple smoke, Regina no longer stood in the living room. 

Emma took her departure as an opportunity to go comfort her son. Prince Henry needed her more right now. Henry had Regina, and his grandparents, and literally everyone else in Storybrooke. Prince Henry only had Emma. She wasn’t picking one child over the other. What was she to do when she was only one person and both of her children needed her? 

As Emma turned around prepared to face Henry, she was met with an empty couch where he once sat. She wondered where he had gone off to until she got her answer. The wind made the wide-open front door creak as it hit the wall over and over again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter but life is getting a bit hectic right now so I wanted to update asap!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry and Emma talk

Emma had a feeling in her gut. Her gut never led her astray before, and she wasn’t going to start doubting it today. She just hoped that it was a Henry instinct to gravitate towards the castle. She was sure that she would find Henry there. The only thing she questions was which son she would find, or if they would both be there. Storybrooke Henry might not take it well if his other-self encroached on his safe space though.

Upon the worn wooden boards sat her little Prince. Her heart broke when she saw just how distraught he was. It was a mixture of pain and anger rolled into one. She couldn’t blame him though. He had his whole world shattered in a matter of hours. He found out his grandparents had been murdered, he had to leave his home to go to a new realm, and he found out he had to share his mother with his other self- who didn’t seem to like him all that much. Her son was so strong to endure all of this.

He didn’t even notice her as he was so lost in thought. He knew he shouldn’t have ran. It was a childish thing to do. Knights stay and they fight, they don’t run away like cowards. He just couldn’t take it anymore. How dare they say those things about him? _I’m real, I’m as real as he is! He heard about what I just went through and he made it about himself. He hates me! And he’s me! If there is anyone I should get along with, it’s me. This is ridiculous!_

“Hey kid.” Hearing his mother’s voice brought him out of deep thought. He knew in her heart that it wasn’t her fault, but he was just so angry. It had to go somewhere. His mother was just the lucky recipient.

Henry gave his mother the best glare he could come up with. Coming from how angry and upset he felt, it was a worthy glare. “Shouldn’t you be out comforting your _real _son?”

“Stop it. Don’t you dare say that. I didn’t let them say that, and I sure as hell won’t let you say that. You are my son. You are real. I will say it however many times I need to so that you and everyone else will understand.” Real. Right now Emma hated the word, she couldn’t stand it. How dare anyone make her son feel as though he was lesser somehow. The majority of her life people made her feel lesser, as if she wasn’t worthy. It was never a feeling she wanted her son to feel.

“Whatever. How did you even find me?” He honestly didn’t even know how he made his way here. He didn’t know anyone here and didn’t have anywhere to go, so he just started walking. His feet seemed to have a sense of direction, so he decided it was good enough.

“This is where the other Henry comes to think. When he ran away when he was younger, I found him here. Thought it might just be a Henry trait to gravitate here.”

At this Henry couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Of course it is. He was here before me. He took one look at me and stormed off. I didn’t go after him, I’m pretty mad at him right now.”

Emma just groaned at hearing how her sons were treating each other. Exasperated she let her son know “it’s fine. I know Regina is going after him. I came here to find you, you need me a bit more than he does right now.” It was true. Storybrooke Henry knew the town like the back of his hand. He already had places to go when he was feeling upset. Granted this was one of them, but she knew he probably ended up in the library. He seemed to find solace among the books, he was the author after all. He had people he could talk to like Archie or Regina. But the Henry in front of her? He only had her. He had to be her priority right now. Regina be damned for trying to make her feel bad for trying to comfort her son. She didn’t want to think of the brunette right now, she was just so angry with her.

Emma walked up to the castle and took a seat beside her son. They needed to talk. Like really talk, no more half-truths just to spare the other’s feelings. They needed to let it all out so they could finally sort everything out. She turned to face her son and urged him to see the sincerity in her face. “Henry tell me how you feel. No sugarcoating anything just to make me feel better. I want the ugly honest truth.”

Henry took a moment to really look at his mother. She was so different, yet she was the same. He could tell that she loved him just as much as she did yesterday before all of this chaos happened. Yet something was different. She was much more confident in herself. The old Emma would have avoided the conflict and acted as if nothing was wrong, she would only focus on the positive parts of the situation. This Emma was much more realistic. He didn’t know much about this new Emma, but he was sure that he liked this version of his mother best.

He took a deep breath and decided that honesty was the best option here. His mother was the only one he had in this strange new realm, so he decided that she should know how he was really feeling. “I feel angry. I’m just so angry about everything. I’m angry at the Evil Queen for killing my grandparents. I’m angry at the other Henry for being a jerk and making this all about him. I’m angry at both of them for saying that I’m not real…”

There was something else that he wanted to say. He just wasn’t sure how to say it. Regardless of the way he said it, it would sound bad. He didn’t want to hurt his mom, but he needed to let all of his feelings out.

Emma could sense his hesitation. She figured what he had to say was about her, so she just placed her hand on his palm and urged him to continue. “Remember kid, full honesty, no matter how much it hurts.”

Henry couldn’t look at his mother for this. He stared down at the ground and continued on. It was just a quiet mumble, but it was loud enough for Emma to hear. “I’m angry at you.” He took a moment to choose his next words carefully. “I’m angry at you for coming into my realm and taking my mom away from me. You’re my mom, but you’re not, but you are. This is so confusing. If you never came to my realm I would still have my mom and my grandparents would still be alive. I like this new version of you better mom, but you are so different I feel like I lost you at the same time. Does that make any sense? Does it make me a bad person for being angry at you?”  


Emma hopped off of the edge of the castle so she could face her son. With him sitting on the edge and her standing up on the ground, they were at eye level to each other. She took his hands into hers and urged him to see the truth behind her words. “Oh my Little Prince, you could never be a bad person. Never feel bad for the way that you feel. This is a lot, I get that you are angry. I’m angry too. Actually, I’m angry about a lot of things, but right now all I care about is making you feel better. I know this is a complete mess, but what can I do to help you?”

“How about we start by getting to know each other again. Well, you still know everything about me because you’re my mom. But I don’t know anything about this other version of you. Will you tell me about your other life?”

“Henry, I would do anything for you. Come on, let’s go to Granny’s. It’s a place where people here like to eat. It’s time you learned what a milkshake and fries are. I will tell you everything you could possibly want to know.”

Henry beamed at his mother. So much had changed in just a few hours, but he knew that her love for him would never change. She looked at him like she wanted to give him the world. He was really looking forward to getting to know this other side of his mother. While he loved Princess Emma, she could be quite the pushover. She was timid and went with everything that his grandparents said. Already he could tell that this Emma took no one’s crap. He could tell that this change would be good for their relationship, he figured it would bring them closer together than they have ever been before.

Emma had already taken a few steps forward expecting her son to follow her as they made their way to Granny’s. Henry quickly jumped off the castle but before running to catch up to her, he just stood for a second. “Mom?”

Emma stopped and spun around when she heard her son call after her. “Yeah?” She tilted her head in a bit of confusion. She thought that they were going to put a pause on this conversation and head to Granny’s where they would pick up. She wondered what else he could say that couldn’t wait until then.

“I just wanted to say thanks for being cool with all of this. For listening to how I felt, without telling me how I should feel. And thanks for not getting mad at me when I told you how I was angry with you.” He had walked over to his mother while he was talking so they now stood facing each other.

Emma’s response was to put her arm around his shoulder and continue walking. “Kid, you don’t have to thank me for being your mother. Now come on. I have to get you some fries as soon as possible. Trust me, kid, you will die once you’ve tried them!”

“Okay, I don’t know a lot about this realm, but this has to be the best part of it. This is amazing!” Young and excited Henry could not believe the chocolatey goodness that was his milkshake. After he told his mother how much he loved it, he then proceeded to suck up quite a bit of it in his straw.

“I’m glad you like it. But kid slow down you’ll…” She viewed how her son now had his eyes clenched shut with his hands on the side of his head. Her warning was too late. “…get a brain freeze. Stick your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Don’t know why, but it helps.”

After a minute Henry regained his senses. He looked down at his drink in such betrayal. At this Emma only chuckled. “It’s called a brain freeze. You get them when you drink or eat cold stuff like this too quickly.”

Henry only shrugged and continued to drink his milkshake, albeit as a much slower pace. Emma then decided to show him something else he needed in his life. She caught Henry’s eyes and urged him to watch. She grabbed a fry and dipped it in her milkshake getting some of the ice-cream on it. “You need to try this. I don’t know why, but it is amazing!”

He did as he was told and found that he agreed with his mother once more. But he decided it was time to get to the whole reason that they were here. They needed to talk. He needed answers. “Mom, will you tell me now about your life? I want to know what was the same and what was different from your life here and your life there.”

Emma munched on another fry. She hated talking about her life. She hated talking about her feelings. But her son deserved some answers. He went through so much and he trusted her so much, it was the least she could do for him. “Kid, the Emma from this world, she-I grew up alone. Your grandparents put me into a wardrobe when I was only minutes old. The wardrobe it sent me to this realm, they were trying to save me from the Evil Queen’s curse. I had August- or rather you know him as Pinocchio, he was supposed to take care of me, but he was just a kid himself, so he left me pretty early on.

I ended up in foster care. It’s where kids go in this world when they don’t have any parents or family to take care of them. The hope is that eventually they would be adopted by some family. I never did. I met your father when I was 17. We moved around a bit and we stole to get buy. Neal, he told me that he had stolen some expensive watches that we could sell and use the money to start new lives. He had me pick up the watches, and he let me take the fall for it when I got caught by the police. Oh--police are like knights of this realm, they enforce our laws. Anyways in jail, I found out I was pregnant with you. I put you up for adoption and you were adopted by Regina. Or rather this Henry was, that’s why she is his mom too.”

Henry really didn’t know what to say. The life his mother lived here versus the one she lived back home, well they couldn’t be more different. He was upset that she ever had to go through all of that. Sure he liked this version of his mother better than Princess Emma, but if living in the enchanted forest meant that she never had to go through any of that, well he would gladly take Princess Emma. The whole thing didn’t sit right with him, but what upset him the most was learning about his father. “You always told me that Neal was brave and someone I should look up to. Why would he do something like that here? How was he really like?”

“Henry the reason your father left me in prison, or rather his reasoning was that he was helping me fulfill my destiny in breaking the curse. I’ve always thought it was a load of b.s., there were tons of ways he could have helped me without leaving me pregnant and alone in jail. I blame him that I wasn’t able to keep this Henry, but in the end, it worked out for the best. Your father from the other realm was pretty similar to this world’s Neal as well.”

Henry thought about what his mother had said. In all honesty, he was glad that he had never met the man. After hearing what he did to his mother, he wouldn’t want to know him even if here were here. But he was still curious to know more. “Mom, sometime, later on, will you tell me more about him?”

She just placed her hand over his palm. “Of course Henry, I will tell you anything you want to know.”

There was something he really wanted to know, but he didn’t want to upset his mother. He could tell that the relationship she had with her parents here was different than the Emma from the other realm. He just hoped he didn’t upset her by asking. “I guess that’s all I really need to know right now. But will you tell me about your relationship with my grandparents?”

“Right. That. Well, Henry, it’s complicated for both versions of me. I care for your grandparents here, but they aren’t my parents. I don’t really connect with them. They didn’t raise me, they are younger than me, and they are always accidentally doing things that hurt me. I don’t want to get into specifics right now, but I promise I’ll tell you everything later. I’ve stopped being angry at them a long time ago, but I guess right now I just feel indifferent. They are my parents but they aren’t, you know?”

“Kind of like how I feel about dad? I know about him, but I never met him so I don’t really feel anything.”

“A bit like that yeah. I care about them I do- but I don’t consider them my parents. With Princess Emma, she- I mean I had them my entire life, but I never really connected with them. When I woke up from the other realm, I couldn’t help but feel angry. I was angry at the person who I had become under their influence. Henry, I tried to spare you from the ugly stuff, but they were very controlling over me. I mean look at me now, do I look like a sappy princess to you? Even before I woke up I was mad at them for not letting me be who I wanted to be. Their love for me wasn’t enough to let me be who I truly was. I guess both versions of me are just great at masking my true feelings.”

She wanted to be completely honest with him. She hoped that this wouldn’t influence his feelings about his late grandparents. And that it wouldn’t dissuade him from forming a relationship with her parents here. She had problems with both sets of the Charmings, but she also loved and cared for them anyways.

Emma had her back to the diner door and Henry was so engrossed in his mother’s story. He was listening so intently that he didn’t realize that Snow and Charming had walked into the diner. As soon as he realized that they were standing by behind their booth his eyes went wide. Emma picked up on this and turned around to follow his line of vision. Her face mirrored her son’s when she realized that they had an unknown audience for their conversation.

“Snow, David, what are you guys doing here?”

“We thought we would help you look for Henry. We came in when we saw you through the window. We didn’t mean to overhear, we were just waiting for a pause in the conversation so we didn’t interrupt you two…Emma is that how you really feel?”

“Could we please not do this now? I still need to finish talking with Henry. We have stuff we need to sort out.”

Snow couldn’t help but be hurt and angry at her daughter. It seemed like she could never be the mother that she wanted. She swallowed her pride and looked to Emma. “Of course, we will leave you to it.” With that she and Charming walked out of Granny’s looking extremely hurt.

Emma just ran her hands over her eyes and groaned as sunk lower into her seat. This was all just too much. “Come on kid, I need to get out of here. Let’s take a walk.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma and Storybrooke Henry have a chat.

Henry and Emma had walked down Mainstreet for just a few minutes before Emma caught glimpse of her other son. He was apparently just leaving the library, probably headed home. Emma decided that now she had talked to one of her sons it was time to have a conversation with the other. 

Emma turned to Henry a bit upset that she had to make their walk so short. “Henry is it okay with you if I poof you back to my parent’s apartment. I can poof you right into my room if you want. I really need to talk to..um..the other Henry.”

Henry was a bit upset that their time was cut short, but he understood. His mother knew that he needed her more urgently so he got to have her first, but he knew that the other Henry needed his mom too. This whole sharing his mom thing was going to be strange and a bit difficult for him but he knew he would get used to it eventually. “Of course Mom, I know that he needs you now too.”

She smiled at her son loving how understanding he could be. She kissed the top of his head before waving her hand. Instantly Henry was gone in a cloud of white smoke. Now that that was settled, she knew it was time to comfort her other son. She ran down the street so that she could catch up to him. 

“Henry!”

Henry stopped walking and turned around when he saw his mother, but he wasn’t her biggest fan right now. She didn’t go after him and it hurt him a lot. He needed her, but she wasn’t there. “What do you want?”

Emma was taken aback for a moment. Gone was her sweet little boy replaced by a petulant teenager. She should have seen it coming, but Henry was just always an easy-going kid. Besides his constant running away and getting kidnapped combo, he didn’t cause them any trouble. She knew that this was hard for him, but still, she wouldn’t stand for this behavior. “Woah kid, why don’t we try dropping the attitude and have a real conversation here?”

“Now you want to talk to me, now that you’ve already comforted your  _ real  _ son.”

Emma squeezed the bridge of her nose in frustration. She was trying really hard here not to lose control, but this all seemed a bit ridiculous. Her son was jealous of himself. “Stop. You are both my sons. He is my son. You are my son. It's as simple as that.” 

“Yeah right.” Henry had turned around and continued walking back to the mansion. He was mad at his birth mother so there was no way he was staying with her tonight. Also, the fact that he didn’t want to see his other-self. Plus the loft was crowded enough with four people, let alone five.    
  


“Henry please don’t do this. Just calm down. Take some time to cool down. I know that things will seem better once you’ve had some time. Are you really jealous of him Henry, of yourself? Please talk to me. Tell me what’s really bothering you.”

“I don’t need to cool down. I don’t need to decide anything. I. Don’t. Want. Him. Here.”   
  
“Henry, why? He is you. How could you possibly hate him so much?” She didn’t understand how this situation got blown so out of hand. Of course, having two Henrys in Storybrooke would be difficult, but they could manage. It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing that has happened. Regina and her Evil counterpart made it work, while the two were actively trying to kill each other. She didn’t understand why Henry wouldn’t even try.    
  


“I don’t want to share you or mom. I don’t want to share my life. How could you even bring him here? Didn’t you think about how I would feel about all of this?” In truth Henry sometimes felt like he was an afterthought to everyone with all of the chaos that occurred in their strange town. Sure everyone cared about his safety, but it didn’t seem that they cared about what he wanted. Every time he tried to help, they pushed him away. Every time he tried to listen in, they told him he was too young. He just wanted to be in charge of his own life. Having his mother decide that he should just be okay with a version of himself walking around...well he was upset. 

“Henry, he’s my son I couldn’t just abandon him--”

“Exactly. You couldn’t abandon him, but you had no problem getting rid of me.”

“Henry stop. It’s not the same and you know it. I just need you to take a step back and consider all of this okay? Henry let’s just get you home so you can cool down and we can talk about this later.”

“Just tell me this.” Henry folded his arms as he thought about what he truly wanted to ask his mother. The question was bold, but he was upset and he needed answers. “If I take some time like you want me to, and I still want him gone. What then? You’ve already chosen him over me by keeping him and then by bringing him here. Would you choose me? Would you send him away? What if I want to be the only Henry in Storybrooke?”

“Hen, if that’s what you truly want--if there is no way that I could possibly get you to change your mind. Well, then I guess he would have to go somewhere else.”

Henry’s eyes lit up at this. He finally gave his mother a reaction other than a frown or a glare. He gave her a bit of a hesitant smile. “You’d choose me?”

Emma nodded slightly. If he forced her to choose she would. She would choose both of her children. If one needed to leave so the other would be happy..“I would make that decision because you made me. But wherever he goes, I go.”

“You can’t be serious? You would leave me again? You would choose him?” At this point, they had made it back to the mansion but neither one of them wanted to enter. They stood out on the porch continuing to bicker.    
  


“Henry! The only reason I would leave is because you forced my hand. He has no one! No one but me. Of course, I would stay with him. You have your mother and your grandparents here.” She couldn’t imagine any scenario where she would be okay with Henry out on his own. He might have been a knight but this was a completely different realm. When she was his age,  _ she _ had no one. She wouldn’t wish that upon her own son, especially when he didn’t grow up in this land. He would suffer even more than she did.

“He is old enough to be out on his own. Just let him live in your old apartment.” He was a prince, he was a knight, he could live on his own, Henry bitterly thought. If he could slay a dragon, he could surely conquer Boston. 

“Henry are you old enough to move out on your own? You have your education here, but you have no work experience. If I just threw you into my apartment in Boston could you make a life for yourself just like that?” Even if the boy had a place to live and money, he still wouldn’t be able to survive without help. He had no skills, at least in this world’s standards. He knew nothing about the way the world worked. He would end up homeless in the streets or put in a psyc ward because people thought he was talking complete nonsense. Emma almost chuckled at the thought of Henry putting  _ dragon slayer  _ on his resume. 

“That’s not the same.”

“No, it’s not. You have an advantage over him. He is new to this world. He doesn’t know anything about it. You want me to leave him alone in this new world and in Boston of all places?” The city was rough when you were naive and on your own. She experienced it firsthand. 

Henry, I don’t know what’s going on with you. You are the kindest, sweetest, most compassionate boy I have ever known. The fact that you are being so cruel, well to yourself, I just can’t believe it.”

“Come on, we are getting nowhere. Let’s get you upstairs. We will talk about this later when you have had some time to cool down and think it over.”

Henry didn’t say anything as he allowed Emma to guide him into the mansion and up to his room. He was mad at her, but her presence still comforted him. Must be a mom thing. He didn't’ know what to say, it was obvious that Emma wasn’t really listening to him. No matter what he said, the other Henry always landed on top. 

Emma lingered by his doorway before turning to go back downstairs. “Hen just remember that you have the heart of the truest believer. You always see the light in everything. I need you to realize that Storybrooke is large enough for the two of you. Him being here isn’t going to take away anything from you. Goodnight. I love you Hen.”

Emma was just about to leave the mansion, she was completely and utterly exhausted. Traveling realms was tiring enough. Not to mention how her boys left her feeling emotionally exhausted. Really it wasn’t just them as Regina and her parents both added to her turmoil. She was just ready for the day to be over.

“Miss Swan, may I have a word with you before you leave?”

She winced a little when she heard a voice call out to her before she could open the door to let herself out. She let out a small sigh and tried to brace herself for whatever else the day could throw at her. She was done. Just so done. 

Yet she looked up and saw a shy smile on her face instead of a scowl. Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as she thought. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit shorter than I would have liked, but I decided to update now because I won't have a chance to later.  
I'll be busy all weekend long so I probably won't update any of my stories for a while. 
> 
> But here is this. As always please let me know what you thought.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma and Regina have a talk about recent events. Henry lets Regina know how he really feels about the situation.

Emma ran her hand through her hair as she slowly turned around. She shut her mouth tight to avoid a small groan. Every fiber in her being told her to keep walking straight out of that door. Yet her mind didn’t always agree with her when it came to Regina. With Regina, Emma found herself doing all sorts of things that she normally wouldn’t. She knew that the brunette elicited these kinds of responses from her, of that she was well aware. She just didn’t want to think about why that was. Her heart knew; subconsciously her mind knew as well. It was easier not to think about it too much. 

“What do you want?” Internally Emma winced. While she was mad at the woman before her, they hadn’t shown that much blatant hostility to each other since she first arrived. With Regina’s outburst earlier and Emma’s hostility right now, it seemed the two were quickly regressing to their old habits. She had hoped her words did not sound as cutting as they did coming out of her mouth, but from the slightest recoil from Regina, she knew that was not the case. 

“Miss Swan-” the unimpressed look of the younger woman made her pause. She nervously wrung her hands together. “-Emma, I wanted to apologize for my reaction earlier today.” She drew out her words trying to gauge the blonde’s response.

Regina figured that the lack of response so far was better than anything. Emma didn’t show any emotion in her face. That quite worried her because while the blonde had her walls up with almost everyone else, Regina could easily read the younger woman as if she had an invitation to see beyond her walls. She did note that Emma stood in place rather than leaving. Right now, it was the small victories that really mattered. Regina took the silence as an invention to keep going. 

“My actions today were uncalled for. You had enough on your plate without me adding onto your stress, for that I would like to apologize.”

Emma looked into those chestnut eyes and saw nothing but sincerity. There was a twinkle in those eyes as if the owner was afraid of her apology going unaccepted. Emma briefly thought that Regina was worried about their relationship.  _ Friendship, _ not relationship - friendship. But surely that couldn’t be it? That remorse and the unease found in those big brown eyes belonged to Henry and Henry alone. 

“Regina I appreciate your apology, but it is a little too much too soon right now. I am angry at you and logically I accept your apology, but emotionally I am still very upset. Can we deal with this later?”

“Oh yes, of course. Again I am sorry that I added to your strife.”

“Just tell me this, why did you do it?”

Regina bit her lip as she witnessed Emma run her hand through her hair. She pushed back hair near her forehead and continued to thread it through her golden curls. Regina had a strong urge to run her own hand through those curls. She wanted to take the woman in front of her into her arms and make her troubles go away. It wasn’t until she glanced at Emma’s expecting eyes until she realized she hadn’t answered the younger woman.

“Truthfully, I’m not quite sure myself. I suppose my motherly instincts went into overload. The look of anguish on Henry’s face spurred me to react.”

“What about my Henry?” Emma’s face soured as she took in her words. “Okay not like that, they are both my Henrys. Oh Hell, this is confusing.” She shook her head, this wasn’t going very well. “I mean Prince Henry, he is Henry, he is your son too.”

Regina nodded as she took in Emma’s words. “I realize that now. It is part of why I am so ashamed of my actions. Prince Henry did not need to hear my comments in addition to what he heard from Storybrooke Henry. In fact, if it is okay with you, of course, I would love the opportunity to apologize to him for my actions.” 

“I will check in with him first. I don’t want to overwhelm him with everything all at once. How about I text you tomorrow morning? We can meet at Granny’s?”

From Emma’s shy smile Regina could see that the woman was being genuine. She only hoped that Henry would also be willing to hear her apology.

“Yes, that sounds wonderful. Again Emma, I really am sorry. I hope I can begin making it up to the both of you tomorrow.” 

With a gentle nod and a small smile, Emma made her way towards the door. Before she closed the door behind her she gave Regina one last look. “Have a good night Regina.”

As the brunette heard the door click shut she let out a sigh of relief. Emma was still upset with her, that much was evident, but the blonde also told her that she was forgiven. The ball of nerves within her stomach seemed to slowly diminish. 

Her heart broke at the thought of their relationship decaying due to her actions. She hadn’t snapped at the other woman in quite a while. She was proud that they had come so far. It was really important to her that Emma accepted her apology. Regina hadn’t forgotten her promise to herself about pursuing something deeper with Emma. Perhaps tomorrow could be the start of a new chapter between the two.

As Regina made her way up the stairs she contemplated whether she should speak to Henry or not. If they were going to go to Granny’s for breakfast, perhaps she should talk to him to make sure that they didn’t have a repeat of today’s incident. On the other hand, talking to him while he was still angry might not be the best idea.

She glanced towards his door and saw that his lights were off. Seeing as he already was in bed, Regina decided to let the topic drop, or at least for now. She would talk to him in the morning. If he didn’t change his attitude, well he just wouldn’t be invited to breakfast. She wanted to mend relationships, not cause additional problems.

With a plan in place, Regina was able to get ready for bed with minimal issues. That guilt she had been carrying since her outburst didn’t go away completely, for she still had apologies to make, but it burdened her quite less. She smiled as she thought about seeing Emma and Henry tomorrow. She couldn’t wait to hear more about their lives. 

Tomorrow would be the start of something good - she could just feel it. 

=====================================================

Regina woke up the next morning by the sound of a notification on her phone. She bit her bottom lip as she opened the text to see what Emma (and Henry) had said about breakfast today. She didn’t realize she was so nervous until she realized she was scared to read the text.

She let out a small sigh of relief followed by a shy smile as she read that the duo did want to meet with her this morning. She glanced at the clock and figured she had a decent amount of time to prepare. She would hop in the shower and then talk to Henry. It is not like he needed much time to prepare. Hopefully, the extra sleep helped him be a bit less cranky.

Yet when Regina went to go wake up Henry, she was surprised to see that he was already awake. She knocked gently on the door frame, alerting him of her presence. “Good morning.”

Henry took a look at his mother and raised his eyebrow. He was a bit confused. She was dressed and ready to go out. The duo normally didn’t get dressed until after breakfast. Instead of returning her greeting, he decided to ask “where are you going?”

_ It is rude not to return a greeting _ . She bit her tongue as to what she really wanted to say. She knew that this was a sensitive topic and she didn’t want to upset Henry any further than she suspected he would be. “Emma has invited us to breakfast at Granny’s.”

Henry smiled at the thought but his glee quickly vanished. “Emma? Just Emma?” He raised an eyebrow daring his mother to correct him.

“No, Henry will be joining us as well.” She smiled through her statement. Maybe her positivity would rub off on her son? One could only dream.

Henry rolled his eyes at his mother, or rather at her statement. “Seriously? Do he have to go?” He got up on his place on the bed and started shuffling different papers on his desk. He didn’t really have a goal in mind other than showing his mother how uninterested he was with this proposed outing.

She had enough with his behavior. She let him get away with so much as she was afraid to cause any trouble after everything they had been through. With Henry calling her evil and disowning her, she felt like she still walks on eggshells just to keep the boy happy. But enough was enough.

She placed her hands on his shoulders forcing him to maintain eye contact. “Henry is inviting us out. If you have a problem with that you don’t have to go.”

Henry jerked his shoulder away from his mother. He wasn’t too upset with her, rather the whole situation in general. “So what, you are just going to leave me here without any food?”

Regina had enough. She stepped away from her son and out of his room. From the doorframe, she gave him a hard look. She was already quite done with the day and it had barely begun. With very little patience left, she turned to him. “Henry, you can join us. We would prefer it if you did, but if you can’t come to the diner with a decent attitude, you aren’t invited. I intend to apologize for my outburst yesterday. I had hoped that you would make an apology as well.”

With that Regina left the room so that he couldn’t automatically respond. She went downstairs to gather a few of her belongings. She lingered as to give Henry a chance to get ready and to join her. She really hoped that he would be joining them. 

She waited a few minutes by the kitchen island, thinking about the whole situation. It was complicated and it was messy, but it was life. They had dealt with messier situations. She shook her head thinking about recent situations in their lives. Hell, she just made up with her other half. She raised an eyebrow as she realized she would have to ask Henry about how that turned out while she was gone. 

She heard rapid footsteps coming down the stairs. She didn’t think that he would be running down in excitement, so that could only mean one thing. Henry was angry.

A quick glance over her shoulder confirmed her suspicions. Her son stand before her completely upset.

“This isn’t fair! You are completely taking his side. Don’t I have the right to be upset? Why do I have to apologize?”

One deep breath, and then another. A second later Regina walked up to her son and grabbed his hand. She led him to the chair she was just occupying. As she gently motioned for him to sit down, she cupped his face with her hands. In a soothing voice as to avoid any more trouble, she responded, “you are completely entitled to your feelings. I am not trying to tell you how to feel. I am simply telling you that if you can’t behave, you are not invited.”

“Well can I go and just not sit with you guys?”

She took a step back as she was shocked by his request. “Absolutely not. We will sit like the family that we are.” She didn’t have the energy to give him her undivided attention anymore. She was trying to be better, but even for Henry, there was only so much she could handle. She began gathering a few things before she would depart for Granny’s.

“Family? Family! He is family now?” He threw his arms up in the air as he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The other him was here for less than a day and somehow he was already family. How did that make sense? It took months for Regina to let Emma into their family. His dad never had the chance to be accepted as family. But now this other Henry got a free pass into their lives?   
  


She topped her rummaging to look Henry in the eyes. “Honestly what did you expect? He is Emma’s son as much as you are. If he lets me, I would love to get to know him and be a part of his life. I’m not sure why you can’t see it. He is you, Henry, of course, he is part of this family.”

“Great he just shows up and he is already messing with my life. We should be going to breakfast just the three of us. He is ruining everything.”

“The only one ruining breakfast right now is you. You were completely invited to join us, you chose to decline that invitation. I’m going to meet them now. I hope that you can get your emotions under control because he is going to be a part of our lives now whether you like it or not.”

As he saw his mother making her way out the door he realized he was out of opportunities. He was over trying to get his mom to understand, it was clear she was unwilling to see this from his perspective. Now he was just mad and wanted to get under her skin. He folded his arms and laid on the guilt as much as he could, “so you just want me to starve?”   
  


With her purse on her shoulder, she looked back before exiting the house. She was so good about remaining calm earlier that she couldn’t keep her remarks to herself anymore. With a last glance, she told Henry, “be a dear and do stop being so dramatic. Why don’t you have some of that sugary cereal you try so hard to hide from me. Believe it or not, you are old enough to take care of yourself a little.”

She shut the door behind her before she could hear any other remark. She leaned against the door for a brief minute. She shook her head as to physically remove the negative energy from her thoughts. One deep breath and a smile later, she was ready to meet Henry and Emma at Granny’s. She could tell that this was going to be the start of something new, something wonderful. She just hoped they both accepted her apology so they could get started on the right path. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh has it really been 9 months since I last updated?? Crazy! I told myself I would never be the type of writer to forget about a story or abandon it, but I realized that is tougher than it sounds. Anyways I am back. I updated my other stories not too long ago, yet I still have crazy writer's block for both of those stories. Yet on this one, the chapter came to me easily. So here is hoping I can update this story regularly and hopefully that will help get rid of my writer's block...Anyways if anyone is still here let me know what you think. Reviews seriously help me write and are always welcomed!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Regina makes some apologies.

As Regina opened the door to the diner, her eyes were immediately drawn to one specific table. She let out a small gasp as she realized her heart had skipped a beat looking at the duo. She knew how much Emma meant to her, and of course, she already loved Henry, but seeing them like this stirred her deeply. 

As she saw Emma and Henry with their heads thrown back in laughter she couldn’t help the spread of warmth within her chest. Emma had her hand on her stomach as though her laughing was becoming painful. Henry had his fists near his eyes as if brushing away a spare tear or two. This image in front of her felt like home. Only it wasn’t perfect, the picture was not yet complete. Only with the addition of Henry and herself would this truly feel like home. 

She could already picture it. The two Henrys would get along as brothers of sorts. The two would be in the den playing video games while she was in the kitchen preparing dinner. Emma would come home from work and challenge her sons in a round or two. The three would be completely engrossed in their game and that they didn’t realize that dinner was ready. She would stand in the doorway silently observing her family before collecting them all into the dining room. 

She had the biggest smile on her face at this thought. 

“Excuse me, Madam Mayor.” It wasn’t until she heard the polite voice of a person behind her, did Regina realize that she was still standing in the doorway. She seemed to have momentarily lost track of time while in her daydream. 

As she approached the table she could feel her heart threatening to burst out of her chest. With every step, the bundle of nerves in her stomach amplified. She berated herself for acting so foolish, it was only Emma and Henry after all. Her two favorite people in the world. 

Emma spotted Regina out of the corner of her eye. A shy smile graced her face. She was excited to see Regina, that much she could tell. Yet she was still a bit upset with her, or was she really? It was like she was reminding her brain to stay angry when all her heart wanted to do was welcome the brunette with open arms.

With a smile, Emma waved her over. “Regina, join us please.” She could see the hesitation the woman had on where to sit. She made a show of sliding further into the booth as a silent invitation for the woman to sit next to her.

“Good morning, how are you both doing today?”

The duo gave short polite answers. It was clear that no one knew where to begin. Their booth sat in silence as they waited for a waitress to take their orders. It wasn’t completely awkward, rather it was just different. Henry was unsure where he fit in this dynamic, while Regina held similar thoughts. The only one that seemed completely at ease was Emma.

It was after their orders were taken did Emma decide to cut the ice. She turned in the booth slightly to face Regina. “So where is Henry?”

Regina paused for a moment. Should she tell the truth? Would it only make the others uncomfortable? 

Seeing as the brunette hesitated, Henry was sure he knew why his counterpart was missing. “I guess he didn’t want to see me?”

“Oh, Henry it isn’t you…”

“This is just a big adjustment for everyone. I think he needs a bit more time.”

“Henry, I need to apologize for my behavior yesterday. My outburst was completely inappropriate and over the line. I didn’t mean what I said.” She could still see the hesitance in his eyes, she knew she had to be brutally honest to make this better. She rubbed the back of her neck with her hand as she thought over her next words. Apologizing was still foreign to her and confessing her faults to others was something she rarely if ever did. “I have a habit of speaking before thinking when I am truly upset.”

Henry could sense that she had more to say. He gave her a nod to tell her that he was listening to her and that she could continue if she wanted to.

“I care so much for Henry, for you, so when I saw him upset, I lashed out at whatever or whoever caused him pain. I know it doesn’t make much sense and I am in no way trying to justify my actions, I just wanted to let you know what I was thinking at the time.”

Henry nodded some more and looked as he was lost in thought. 

“I really hope you have it in your heart to forgive me.” She looked down at her fidgeting hands, “I was wondering if I could get to know you better? If you would be comfortable with that of course.”

When Henry didn’t respond she took his silence as hesitation. “It is just that I feel such a connection to you already because you are Henry; I love every version of my son.” She looked into such familiar brown eyes and found them in a state of shock. She gripped his hands into hers, “I understand that you are your own unique person. Please know that I want to know you for  _ you _ .”

Henry looked towards his mother for guidance. When he saw her small approving smile, he knew that she was on the same page as he was. He could see the woman across from him was completely nervous. He wanted to reach for her hand as reassurance, but he wasn’t so sure of the action. He felt safe and comfortable with her, yet it was literally just yesterday that he saw her as the Evil Queen. He had years of stories about how horrible she was, yet he still felt drawn to her. It was an odd mixture to have inside of his head. 

Instead of grabbing her hand, he hoped his shy smile helped put her at ease. “Regina, I forgive you.” He gestured to his blonde mother with a nod of his head, “it seems like being a hot head seems to run in the family.”

Emma playfully smacked him in the shoulder. It was typical Henry behavior, lightening the mood and making others feel better with his natural charm. By the shine in Regina’s eyes, it was clear to her that this Henry had already stolen her heart as well.

“Thank you Henry, that means a lot to me.” She had to work hard so that she didn’t shed the tear that was threatening to fall out. 

Breakfast seemed to flow smoothly after that. Henry and Emma took turns telling different stories. Henry would share some tales with Regina about his experiences of being a knight. He even shared some embarrassing stories of Princess Emma. Emma, in turn, told some stories about her past before Storybrooke that neither Henry nor Regina had heard before. The tales were told with excitement to a captive audience.

As the trio began finishing their meals, Henry realized that there was still an important issue they had to discuss. He didn’t know where to start, so he thought about it while he ate. Now that the food was almost gone, he knew his time was almost up. He glanced at his mother and he knew she would support him in anything he had to say. He looked towards Regina and if she really did love him as she claimed, he figured she would want to hear his honest thoughts.

“Regina, I do forgive you and I do want to get to know you better. But I hope you don’t expect to have the same relationship with me as you do with your son. I am fighting with two different versions of you in my head. Until recently I thought of you as the Evil Queen who tormented and killed my grandparents. Yet I see you know as this nice woman who wants to know me better. I want to get to know you better, but I hope you don’t expect us to have the same type of relationship as you have with your son.”

“Henry, I am so terribly sorry for what I did to your grandparents. I promise you I didn’t really want to cause them any harm.” Tears welled in her eyes as she thought about her actions. She had killed his grandparents. And in a way, taken away Emma from her parents again. “It never occurred to me that your world could be really. It was quite a foolish thought now that I think of it…”

Before she could continue rambling, Henry cut her off. “Regina, I forgive you. I have not had the opportunity to really process their deaths, but I understand that your actions were not malicious. My mother explained to me everything. I am upset of course because I love my grandparents, but I can’t blame you when you were only trying to rescue my mother.” He looked away from Regina at this to give his mother a small smile. It was the truth. He hadn’t really dealt with their deaths yet, he was just happy that he had his mother. He was so overwhelmed with this new and seemingly more positive relationship with his mother that everything else was shuffled in the back of his mind. 

Emma returned the smile right back at Henry. She had thought it multiple times since their arrival yesterday, but she couldn’t help but think about how strong her son was. He had such a pure heart, the heart of the truest believer to be exact. She could not be prouder of him. 

As Emma signed the check she decided that this was probably emotional enough for all of them. “I think that breakfast went really well, but I think we all need time to process all of this. So why don’t we call it a day?” 

Both Henry and Regina nodded their approval. As the trio walked out of the dinner they hesitated near the entrance before they went their separate ways. 

“Regina, would it be alright if I stopped by later tonight? I haven’t had the chance to talk to Henry about this properly.”

“Of course would you both want to join us for dinner? You can talk to him after we eat?”

Emma hesitated for a second before answering. She bit her lip as she thought of an answer. “How about a rain check? I don’t think dinner with everyone would be the best idea right now. I think we all need a little time..”

“Oh yes, of course.” She couldn’t help but feel disappointed at that. She hadn’t even left Henry and Emma yet she was already craving more time with them. “You can stop by after dinner then. I will text you.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you then.” She nodded her head goodbye and both mother and her son walked away from the diner and the brunette that stared at their backs longingly. 


End file.
